Retired senator to speak at W&J
Retired Sen. George Mitchell, who has served as U.S. special envoy for the Middle East, will speak at Washington & Jefferson College at 7 p.m. Thursday in Room 100 of the Dieter-Porter Life Sciences Building.
Mitchell, an author and lead investigator in Major League Baseball’s steroid scandal, will speak as a part of W&J’s Integrated Semester on Conflict and Community and the J. Robert Maxwell 43 Visiting Scholar Series. The lecture is free and opened to the public.
Mitchell, Democrat from Maine, served in the Senate for 15 years, six of which as Senate majority leader. After his retirement from the Senate, Mitchell was chairman of the peace negotiations in Northern Ireland. Under his leadership, the governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom agreed to the historic “Good Friday” peace accord.
He later served as chairman of an international fact-finding committee on violence between Israel and Palestine. The committee’s recommendation, widely known as The Mitchell Report, was endorsed by the Bush administration, the European Union and others.
Mitchell served as the chairman of the board of the Walt Disney Co. and as chairman of the International Crisis Group, the National Health Care Commission and the commission investigating allegations of impropriety in the Olympic Games’ bidding process. He was also the overseer of the American Red Cross Liberty Disaster Relief Fund, which helped victims of the 9/11 attacks.
In 2006, Mitchell investigated steroid use in baseball, the results of which were outlined in the second report known as The Mitchell Report. Mitchell is also the author of four books.
He has received numerous awards and honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor the U.S. government can bestow.